INTRODUCTION.
An
important feature of the gem-mining industry in the United States
during 1911 was the result of prospecting at the Turner emerald mine
near Shelby, N. C. The quality of some of the gems and the value of all
gem material found in this deposit with a limited amount of development
work are promising. Gems valued at $100 to $200 per carat have been
obtained, and the quality of the average run of the emeralds probably
equals that of South American emeralds. The mine has been purchased by
New York men, who expect to test it thoroughly.
Much
interest has been displayed in chalcedony and quartz gems, such as
agates, moss agate, jasper, and bloodstone, resulting in an increased
output. Moss agates of very fine quality and a few gems showing quite
remarkable landscapes were cut in Montana. Discoveries of new deposits
of bloodstone and of a beautiful variety of chalcedony, resembling St.
Stephen stone, in California have proved of interest. Beach-pebble gems
were polished along the coast of California and Oregon as usual, and
furnished many attractive souvenir gems for tourists. Renewed activity
in sapphire mining in Montana resulted in a large output. The mines of
the Yogo American Sapphire Co. and of the New Mine Sapphire Syndicate
in Fergus County produced many stones of a fine blue color, and the
placer deposits of Granite County, Deerlodge County, and along Missouri
River contributed a large quantity of varicolored stones for gems and
mechanical purposes.
Opaque
blue and green gems, such as turquoise, variscitc, and copper-ore gems,
were used in some quantity, but the production was much smaller than
during the preceding two years. Much of the material placed on the
market as finished gems was mined in previous years. The demand for
tourmaline and kunzite declined and was supplied chiefly from stocks on
hand. New trade names are continually appearing for new forms of
well-known minerals or peculiar mixtures of minerals cut for gems. Some
of these trade names are mentioned in this report in order that the
public may know the nature of such stones when offered for sale.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.
Credit
to persons furnishing information used in the preparation of this
report is given in the text, but special acknowledgment for courtesies
extended is due and cordially given to Messrs. J. J. Kin-rade, of San
Francisco, Cal., and J. II. Mosher, of Glendive, Mont.,
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